Donnerstag, 17. November 2016

Modular knitting is always great to show off yarn with a longer color gradient. This cowl makes no exception. It is knitted flat in trapezoids at right angles to each other. When it's long enough it is worked into a cowl by grafting.

This cowl is named after the lovely town of Burgdorf in Switzerland where I spend a wonderful time at a friend's place. It's where knitted this cowl.

3.25mm needles - I recommend long circulars, you can use straight needles as well, but you might need 3 needles at times (e.g. when you pick up stitches to start a new trapezoid or when you graft the ends together at the end); I used rather short circulars

I knitted a total of 24 trapezoids (using up my 100 grams of lace weight yarn). After blocking my cowl measured 22 cm in width and 120 cm in circumference.

Construction

The picture below shows the general construction. The cowl is made from modules in trapezoid shape that build on each other. In the end the upper edge of the last trapezoid is grafted to the lower edge of the 2nd one - and the lower edge of the very first trapezoid is grafted to the upper edge of the one but last trapezoid plus a few picked up stitches.

The picture to the right shows how the first trapezoid sections fit together. Trapezoid 2 is knitted at right angles to trapezoid 1 (picking up stitches from trapezoid 1). Trapezoid 3 is knitted on top of trapezoid 1, using the leftover stitches from trapezoid 1 and stitches picked up from the side of trapezoid 2. Trapezoid 4 in turn is knitted at right angles to trapezoid 3, using stitches picked up from the side trapezoid 3 and the leftover stitches from trapezoid 2. And so on ...

Trapezoid 1
R1: ssk, k to m
R2: sl1, k to end
R3: ssk, k to m
Repeat rows 2 and 3 18 more times
There are now 30 stitches with working yarn on your needles - these stitches will not be knitted during the next trapezoid
Your piece should now look like in photo 1.

Trapezoid 2
R1: place marker and pick up and knit 20 stitches from the slip stitch edge of trapezoid 1, then go on and knit the 30 sts left of the provisional CO -> between your stitch marker and the end there are now 50 stitches. Your piece should look like in photo 2.
R2: ssk, k to m
R3: sl1, k to end
R4: ssk, k to m
Repeat rows 3 and 4, 18 more times -> there are now 30 "active" stitches for trapezoid 2 - these stitches will not be knitted during the next trapezoid

Trapezoid 3
R1: place marker and pick up and knit 20 stitches from the slip stitch edge of the last trapezoid, then go on and knit the 30 sts left of the last but one trapezoid -> between your stitch marker and the end there are now 50 stitches. The upper edge of your piece should look similar to photo 3.
R2: ssk, k to m
R3: sl1, k to end
R4: ssk, k to m
Repeat rows 3 and 4, 18 more times (after a few times the upper edge of your piece should look similar to photo 4) -> there are now 30 "active" stitches for this trapezoid - these stitches will not be knitted during the next trapezoid.

Trapezoid 4
R1: place marker and pick up and knit 20 stitches from the slip stitch edge of the last trapezoid, then go on and knit the 30 sts left of the last but one trapezoid -> between your stitch marker and the end there are now 50 stitches. The upper edge of your piece should look similar to photo 3.
R2: ssk, k to m
R3: sl1, k to end
R4: ssk, k to m
Repeat rows 3 and 4, 18 more times (after a few times the upper edge of your piece should look similar to photo 4) -> there are now 30 "active" stitches for this trapezoid - these stitches will not be knitted during the next trapezoid.

Repeat trapezoids 3 and 4 until your cowl has the desired length.
I knitted a total of 24 trapezoids since I prefer my cowls to be double-length, i.e. I like them to fit at least twice around my neck.

Cut yarn and leave long tail (enough to graft 30 stitches)

Put stitches from pCO on a new knitting needle (since I didn't have another 3.25mm needle – I used a slightly smaller one (3mm)). For orientation you might want to place a marker between the two first trapezoids (i.e. there will be 50 stitches for the very first trapezoid and 30 stitches for the 2nd).

Hold the last trapezoid you knitted and the 2nd trapezoid together (see photo 5) and graft together in garter stitch (30 sts) with the tail you left after knitting the last trapezoid.

From the side of the last trapezoid pick up 20 sts (please note that this is not pick up and knit). Combined with the stitches of the one but last trapezoid you now have 50 stitches on that needle.
Hold these stitches together with the provisional CO of the very first trapezoid (see photo 6) and graft in garter stitch.

Donnerstag, 3. November 2016

Usually, when I knit a cowl or a scarf, I plan to knit a matching pair of (fingerless) gloves - or when I knit a pair of gloves, I plan to knit a matching cowl. Usually, this never gets beyond the planning phase ... And even though I have lots of scarfs/cowls and lots of pairs of fingerless gloves they seldom match.

So I am quite proud that this time I actually managed to knit a matching set - and not only in terms of the yarn I used, but also as concerns the stitch technique. In March I published a pattern for a cowl with stacked stitches - called the Stack Overflow Cowl. Even though it's made from quite cheap sock yarn, I love to wear it. And since there was yarn left, I decided to design a pair of fingerless gloves with stacked stitches as a decorative element; the construction is based on my Strata Fingerless Gloves (published last year).

Grafting Stockinette Stitch / Kitchener Stitch: A technique to get an invisible (knitted) seam - this technique is shown in this YouTube Video by knittinghelp.com.

Basic Construction
The schematic below shows the construction of these mitts. The mitts are started at the thumb (1) which is knitted in the round. Then an increasing oval shape is knitted (2) - half of the stitches of the oval are put on a stitch holder to be used later. At one end of the oval a provisional CO is added, to give length to the shaft of the mitts.
The main body part (3) is knitted flat - first a few stockinette rows - followed by a stacked stitch pattern to decorate the back of your hand and then stockinette stitch again to cover the palm. The last row is attached to the provisional CO and the stitches from the stitch holder by means of a three needle BO.
Photos of the mitt in construction can be found in this blogpost (the pattern for Strata Fingerless Gloves).

Gauge / Measurements
Since the pattern uses different stitches on the back and palm side of the mitts, they are slightly lopsided. The finished mitts measure 18 cm in length on the palm side - and 21 cm on the back of the hands. They measure about 19 cm in circumference at the wrist end, and about 17 cm at the top end. However, the width (circumference) can easily be adapted to fit your hand size.
When knitting in stockinette stitch 12 sts equalled 5 cm in width and 16 rows equalled 5 cm in height.

In row 15 either place two markers (one at the beginning of the round - the other at the middle of the row (i.e. after 12 sts)) or use the magic loop technique and distribute the stitches evenly on the front and back needle (12 sts each).

Rounds 16 and 17: * kfb, k to last stitch of this needle (or last stitch before marker), kfb, repeat from *
Rounds 18 to 21: *kfb, kfb, k to last 2 sts of this needle (or last 2 sts before marker), kfb, kfb, repeat from *

After round 21 you should have a total of 64 sts on your needles - these stitches now form an oval shape. For the body part only one side of this oval will be used.

Body
Row 0 (RS): kfb, knit to last stitch on this needle (or last stitch before marker), kfb - do a provisional CO of 15 new stitches on a third needle - then continue knitting these new sts in row 0. If you want to customize your mitts to have a shorter or longer shaft, you can adjust them here by provisionally casting on more or less stitches - just make sure that the total number of stitches (half of the thumb stitches plus the provisional CO) is a multiple of 4 plus 3. E.g., half of the thumb stitches are 32. 32 + 15 (pCO) = 47 - and 47 = 11x4 + 3.

Put the rest of the stitches on scrap yarn or on a stitch holder

First some "neutral rows" to place the stacked stitches on the back of your hands. These neutral rows are basically all stockinette - except for some garter sts at the edges to prevent rolling at the sides.
Row 1 (WS): k5, p to last 5 sts, k5
Row 2 (RS): k all
Row 3 (WS): k5, p10, w+t
Row 4 (RS): k all
(Rows 3 and 4 are short rows added to make the wrist end of the mitts wider)
Repeat rows 1 and 2 twice more.

Now prepare for joining the sides together with a three-needle bind-off.

Put the stitches from your scrap yarn/stitch holder on your 2nd needle as well as the stitches of the provsional CO.

After you have picked up the stitches from the scrap yarn and your provisional CO, you'll notice two gaps around the thumb (one on top of the thumb, the other at the transition to the shaft. To avoid holes in the finished piece you'll have to pick up a stitch from these gaps and put them on the needle. To do this you need to transfer the stitches to a new needle - and when you reach the gap, pick up the the horizontal piece of yarn between the two stitches with your left needle, and twist it (as in a mk1-sts). Now you have one stitch more which will help to avoid a hole. Do the same for with the last stitches of that row.

Now hold both needles together and do a kitchener stitch (grafting). Weave in ends.

Differences for the 2nd Mitt

The second mitt must be knitted differently to mke it mirror inverted to the first. Here are the instructions for the 2nd mitt.

Knit the thumb part as for the 1st mitt.

Body
The basic difference is that for the neutral rows, WS and RS are switched, i.e. for mitt no. 1 your first comple body row is a WS row, while for the 2nd mitt, it's an RS row. This also means that the short rows (to widen the shaft) are knitted on the WS.

Row 0 (WS): do a provisional CO of 15 new stitches on a third needle and knit these stitches using your working yarn.

Continue knitting the same number of neutrals rows (including the same number of short rows) as for your first mitt.

Then move the thumb stitches from your scrap yarn to the 2nd needle as well as the stitches from the provisional CO (don't forget to pick up stitches around the thumb to avoid holes) and graft both sides together.